Now, Silicon Valley Bank has said it expects to deploy an additional $100m of new lending commitments to fast-growing Irish technology and life science businesses over the next five years, from its operations in the US and UK.

Silicon Valley Bank’s parent company, SVB Financial Group, has established a presence in Ireland with the appointment of Clive Lennox, who has moved from London to Dublin as director of Irish Business Development.

“We’re pleased to have met so many fantastic entrepreneurs in Ireland over the last four years, and are looking forward to expanding our relationships with Irish innovators with this new financial commitment,” said Phil Cox, president of EMEA and head of Silicon Valley Bank’s UK branch.

“We’d like to thank the Irish government and particularly the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund for their support, collaboration and proactive approach to building the innovation economy locally.”

Debt funding

Phil Cox, President of EMEA and head of Silicon Valley, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan TD and Eugene O’ Callaghan, Director of the Strategic Investment Fund

Some 15 companies, including Accuris, Boxever, Clavis Insight, Movidius and Profitero have benefited from the original $100m commitment.

“This year we accessed debt funding from Silicon Valley Bank that will help enable Boxever to create up to 100 high-value technical roles in Ireland,” explained Dave O’Flanagan, CEO of Boxever.

“The team at SVB quickly understood our business model and thought creatively about what we were seeking to achieve with our series B round – it’s a great working relationship.”

Ireland’s emerging and high-growth technology and life sciences companies have enormous potential but lending to them requires a real understanding of their life cycle, business model and financing requirements, said Eugene O’Callaghan, director of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, previously known as the National Pension Reserve.

“Silicon Valley Bank has shown it can apply its specialist lending expertise and relationships to a critical gap in the Irish market and we look forward to seeing more Irish companies benefit from their dedication to the Irish market over the next five years.”